Brown v. Richardson

361 F. Supp. 173, 38 Cal. Comp. Cases 832, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11044
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedNovember 20, 1972
DocketCiv. No. C-70 2747
StatusPublished

This text of 361 F. Supp. 173 (Brown v. Richardson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Richardson, 361 F. Supp. 173, 38 Cal. Comp. Cases 832, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11044 (N.D. Cal. 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

PECKHAM, District Judge.

This action is brought under section 205(g) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 405(g)) to review a final decision of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare disallowing plaintiff’s application for the establishment of a period of disability and for disability insurance benefits under §§ 216 (i) and 223 of the Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 416(i), 423). After an initial denial and hearing, plaintiff’s application was denied July 31, 1970, based upon the hearing examiner’s finding that he was not under a disability within the meaning of the Act. Plaintiff made application to this court for review of the Secretary’s final decision of denial, and on stipulation of the parties the case was remanded to the Secretary for reconsideration. After a supplemental hearing and decision again finding that plaintiff was not under a disability, the Secretary adopted the decision,that plaintiff is not entitled to a period of disability or disability insurance benefits under the Apt. The Secretary now moves for summary judgment affirming his decision.

FACTS

Plaintiff is 56 years old and has a third grade education. He worked until 1955 as a cleaner and presser, and from 1955 to 1967 as a construction laborer. On April 14, 1967, plaintiff, while astride a lawn mower, sustained a traumatic rupture of the urethra. Despite corrective surgery, problems of difficulty urinating, pain in the lower abdomen, and dribbling after urinating remain. Plaintiff claims a disability dating from July 17, 1969, when the pain in his abdomen and frequency of urination made it impossible for him to continue working. The issue on review is whether plaintiff has established a “disability” within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1)(A):

“inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.”

[175]*175There is no dispute about the fact or extent of the injury; the parties differ over whether there is employment available which plaintiff can pursue despite his handicap. The standard to be applied on this issue is found at 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(2)(A):

“. . . he is not only unable to do his previous work but cannot, considering his age, education, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy, regardless of whether such work exists in the immediate area in which he lives, or whether a specific job vacancy exists for him, or whether he would be hired if he applied for work. For purposes of the preceding sentence (with respect to any individual), ‘work which exists in the national economy’ means work which exists in significant numbers either in the region where such individual lives or in several regions of the country.”

The finding of the Secretary that plaintiff does not suffer from a disability within the meaning of the Act is conclusive “if supported by substantial evidence.” 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

THE PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Two separate hearings were held at both of which plaintiff testified. Testimony was also taken of a vocational expert and one examining physician, and other medical reports were accepted into evidence. Plaintiff’s testimony as to the frequency with which he must urinate during the day changed from the first hearing to the second. The hearing examiner at the supplemental hearing chose to believe the testimony given at the first hearing, that plaintiff must use a bathroom four to five times during the course of a working day (Tr. 150). The hearing examiner discredited plaintiff’s testimony at the later hearing that urinary frequency was on the order of once every 10 to 15 minutes, noting in addition that even accepting such testimony, it appeared that plaintiff could take remedial action to decrease the frequency (Tr. 147-149). The credibility of plaintiff’s testimony is a matter for the hearing examiner to decide. Gardner v. Wilcox, 370 F.2d 492, 494 (9th Cir. 1966). Given the finding that plaintiff must visit a restroom four to five times during the course of a working day (presumably approximately 9 hours), is there substantial evidence in the record to support the hearing examiner’s conclusion that plaintiff is employable ?

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

The hearing examiner found the following :

1) That despite his urinary problem, plaintiff could “engage in sustained employment with that problem by urinating immediately before beginning work in the morning, during his morning coffee break, during lunch time, during his afternoon coffee break, and immediately after finishing work in the afternoon.”
2) “That claimant at all times since July 17, 1969 has had the residual physical capacity for substantial gainful activity as a caretaker, groundskeeper and gardener, occupations which he has performed in the past.”
3) That plaintiff has sufficient skills and physical capacity for “light labor jobs, including janitorial work in office buildings and in public toilets, which jobs exist in significant numbers in the national economy . . . .” (Tr. 150).

The above findings are based on the medical evidence and testimony at the supplemental hearing of a vocational expert, Howard Wolcott (Tr. 178-198). In his questioning of Wolcott, the hearing examiner focused upon plaintiff’s ability to perform work similar to that he had performed in the past, or which he admitted performing around his house (gardening), based on the alternative frequencies of urination reflected in plaintiff’s testimony. We will consider [176]*176here Wolcott’s testimony based on a frequency of four to five times a day only.1

The schedule of restroom visits outlined in the hearing examiner’s first finding above came out of testimony by Wolcott as to the maximum number of absences from one’s station that am employer would permit under regular working conditions (Tr. 180-181). Accepting, arguendo, the degree of punctuality the hearing examiner seems to assume, the question becomes whether jobs are available which plaintiff can perform and which provide the facilities required by his urinary problem. We turn, therefore, to the jobs mentioned by the hearing examiner in his findings.2

The jobs of caretaker, groundskeeper, and gardner were considered by Wolcott not to afford plaintiff the facilities his urinary problem requires. Planting and tending shrubs along the highway (Tr. 185-86) or keeping up the grounds in cemeteries (Tr. 186) were briefly considered and rejected as possibilities.

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361 F. Supp. 173, 38 Cal. Comp. Cases 832, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11044, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-richardson-cand-1972.